Two Brothers, One Map
by ginnyrules27
Summary: Jesse Leon Hawkins is an eight year old ball of questions. Why has his father taken so long to get back from his business trip? Why were pirates at the Benbow? Why does Jim get to have all the fun? For once, Jesse's going to find the answers to his questions-though he may not like what he finds. AU Hawkins Brother.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

A/N: Umm…yeah, again I own nothing but my character Jesse Leon Hawkins.

Jesse sat on the steps of the school on the last day before summer, nursing the bruise on his left arm with a wet napkin. That was the third time this week he'd been picked on, all because of the fact his father still wasn't back from his stupid business trip.

"Go run to your daddy," the ringleader had taunted as school let out. Jesse winced. This one would be hard to hide from his mother or from Jim, as he'd been doing since the bullying started four years ago. Jim would go ballistic if he knew, exactly the reason why Jesse hadn't said anything. He could fight his own battles thank you! Never mind that he was eight, Jim was fifteen and could scare the crap out of the bullies with a single glare.

He sighed and then looked at his watch. Jim was late. Despite his over protectiveness, Jim also was a mess up. Jesse scoffed at those who thought they were alike. Jim was tall, with grey eyes and dark brown hair. Jesse was short, with green eyes and light brown hair. The only clue that they were related was their last name.

_He's not coming_, Jesse thought with a sigh and proceeded to make the long well known walk he'd made a few times before. Jim meant well, but sometimes he was an idiot. When Jesse saw the robocops leave the Inn, he rolled his eyes. Typical Jim. He meant well though, and tried to make up for broken promises.

"Hey Mom!" he called out, flinging his backpack to the side. "Need some help?"

"Jesse!" his mother exclaimed in relief. Jesse looked at the clock and saw that he was an hour late. At least if he wanted to he could blame Jim. He wouldn't though. Sibling loyalty and that junk. "Wasn't Jim…"

"It was a nice day," Jesse said quickly, "I walked. I let Jim know before hand so he wouldn't wait for me."

Let no one say that Jesse Leon Hawkins was not a good liar or that he didn't stick up for his siblings.

"Go upstairs and do your summer work," his mother smiled at him and shooed him away from the Inn part of their home. Jim was probably either put to work or on the roof. Most likely the former, as he just got a ride back from the cops. Again. Pulling out his books, Jesse got started on the work and found himself completing it just as the window to the room next door opened.

"Jim?" he peered out his own window. There was his big brother, brooding again.

"Hey Jes," Jim said with a nod after realizing his little brother was there. "Don't you have work for the summer?"

"Don't you?" Jesse shot back, ignoring the nickname. Jim was constantly trying to find ways to shorten his little brother's name.

"All done," Jim smirked.

"Yeah right," Jesse teased his brother. Jim hated any kind of work, be it school or helping in the Inn. "Anyway, I'm done too. That's the perks of being eight."

Jim rolled his eyes at his brother. "Hey, I'm sorry for—"

"Forget it," Jesse said. "It's not like this is the first time it's happened anyway."

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two brothers. There honestly were times that Jesse hated Jim but the times he forgot about him were surprisingly not part of them.

"Mom talking to Delbert again?"

"Yeah," Jim nodded. "I just tuned in. Guess who they're talking about _this_ time?"

"The giant frog family at table four?" Jesse asked innocently, trying to cheer up his brother.

"No, the resident screw-up," Jim told him and leaned back on the side of the house.

"H-Has Mom mentioned Dad at all?" Jesse asked. Jim hated talking about their father and Jesse didn't know why. He'd come back, right? He had to; something was just taking a long time on his trip.

"No," Jim answered after a few minutes of stony silence. "Look, go back inside Jes. It looks like it's going to rain and the windows should be closed. Give mom less work anyway."

"You'll be in soon?" Jesse asked.

"In a bit," Jim promised his little brother and Jesse closed his window and locked it shut. Then he flopped on his bed and grabbed his favorite toy. It was an old ragged bear that his mom told him had been his father's when he was Jesse's age. An eye was missing and an arm was missing stuffing but Jesse didn't care. Less than five minutes after that though, Jim barged into his room.

"What the—"

"No time to explain," Jim said and flipped Jesse over his shoulder. "Got that old thing?"

"Yeah," Jesse nodded and Jim tore out of there like a solar surfer. Delbert and their mother were right in front of them by a window.

"One—"

"THREE!" they all jumped out and Jesse saw the Inn succumb to flames. What had happened during those five minutes?

000

Pirates? Blast it, Jim got all the fun! Wait, why was the room green? Jesse really needed to learn how to pay attention to his surroundings.

"It's a map," Delbert exclaimed and put on his glasses. Jesse chuckled; the dog-man always amused him in ways that annoyed Jim. But Jim was too preoccupied with where the map led to than anything else.

"Is that—?"

"Treasure Planet," Jim exclaimed, interrupting his brother. "I don't believe it! That's Treasure Planet!"

"It's real," Jesse whistled in amazement. All the stories, all the legends…they'd all been real! He couldn't believe it.

"So when are we going?" he turned to his brother with a grin that looked as if he was going to split his face in two. He rarely got to do fun things with his brother—mainly because Jim was too _cool_ to hang out with his little brother.

"Hold it!" their mom held up her hands. "No one is going anywhere!"

"Aw Mom!" Jesse grumbled. Jim tried a different approach.

"Mom, this is it! With that treasure we could rebuild the Benbow a…a _hundred_ times over!"

"Well this, this is…Delbert will you explain to him how serious this is?"

"Completely preposterous," the dog-man said, puffing up his gut. "Traversing the galaxy all by yourself."

"Now, at last, we hear some sense," Sarah Hawkins nodded in approval.

"That's why I'm going with you," Delbert threw in there and Jesse giggled at the look of shock on his mom's face. Even Jim looked amused by the dance Delbert was currently doing.

"Okay, you're all grounded!" Sarah exclaimed. Jim went over to her and tried once more to beg his case. Eventually, it took both Delbert and Jim to let her agree to both of them going.

"What!" Jesse exclaimed. "But Mom!"

"No buts Jesse," Sarah scolded. "I'm not letting you go. It's too dangerous."

Jesse scowled and ran out of the room. Jim was getting to go on this cool trip even though the robocops brought him back to the inn _and_ he left him at the school! How was that fair?

"We'll leave early Sarah," Jesse heard Delbert tell his mother in a low voice. "That way, he can't try to sneak out with us."

Jesse smirked and quickly threw a bag together. If Jim was going on an adventure, so was he and no one was going to stop him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

A/N: Again, I only own Jesse Leon Hawkins. Everything else is property of Disney.

It was hard, falling asleep that night. Jesse kept thinking about what he was going to do and how he was going to do it. His bag was packed with essentials and the old bear. Now he just had to sneak by Jim.

"Now or never," he whispered to himself as he slid out of bed upon hearing Jim's bedsprings squeak. All he had to do was slide through the window and then catch the direct ferry to the spaceport. It was the only chance he had.

"Breakfast Delbert?" he heard his mom ask and knew this was his only shot at adventure. Opening the window enough so he could slip through it, Jesse lowered himself on the roof. There, he grabbed a branch of the closest tree and squeezed his eyes shut. He did _not _like heights.

"Okay," he sighed in relief as he dropped down to the ground. Now all he had to do was get to the ferry before Jim and Delbert left the house. Easier said than done though but he took off against the dark background of the night sky, lined with a sliver of pink warning of the dawn. Seeing as he didn't know how quickly Delbert and Jim would catch up with him, Jesse ran most of the way to the dock.

_This would be so much easier if we were at the Benbow,_ he thought as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. It took about five hours but he was finally able to reach the dock, holding the last direct ferry to the spaceport. Everything else would take three days to arrive.

"Last call for Montressor space port!"

"Hold it!" Jesse called and a creature held the door open for him. "Thanks mister! I'm just so excited to see my dad. He said he'd take me on a trip!"

Jesse had decided to play up the cuteness factor in case of any awkward situations. The door shut and Jesse watched the shore drift away. This was it. He was finally going on an adventure. One that Jim always got to read about, but the books were always ruined by the time they got to him.

"Kid, you getting off?" a frog like creature asked about six hours later. Jesse looked around in shock to see the ferry empty. He must have dozed off!

"Yeah, thanks!" Jesse grinned and ran off of the ferry. He now had three days to find the ship and get aboard before Jim and Delbert knew about it. But first, what the heck was the ship's name?

"Something Legacy," Jesse muttered to himself, brushing his brown hair out of his eyes. He'd heard Delbert talking about it last night. Apparently, the dog-man never slept at all—he commissioned the ship, the crew and the journey in one night.

"Watch it kid," a merchant growled at him after almost knocking him over.

"Excuse you," Jesse muttered, rubbing the arm that had been hit. Sadly, it was the same arm, which Bobby Bruin had bruised the other day—making it sensitive to any jostling. Jesse kept his head down, trying to avoid attention. That was the last thing he needed. Stowing away on a ship was against the law, earning massive jail time no matter your age.

" 'Cuse me lad," a voice with a heavy accent called to Jesse, "but could ye direct me to the RLS Legacy?"

Jesse shook his head. "Sorry Mister. I'm looking for it myself."

"Well, tis a shame. Perhaps I'll see you aboard."

The man left without giving Jesse a good chance to get a look at him. Jesse scowled at that. He didn't like strangers, but he didn't like shady people even more. Yeah, Jim teased him about being too trusting but Jim only saw one side of him. At school, it was a whole different barrel of purps.

"Finally," Jesse sighed, looking at the ship. Creatures were moving all over the place, allowing Jesse the chance to move onto the ship unnoticed. Hiding behind some barrels, Jesse saw what appeared to be a cat-woman talking to a man made of rock.

"Mr. Arrow," the cat-woman stated in a low voice, "have you ever seen such a crew?"

"No captain," Arrow shook his head. "But a great captain like yourself shouldn't have a problem managing them."

"Yes quite," the captain looked pensive for a minute and then shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. "No matter. Once the financer of our voyage gets here, we'll be ready to set sail."

_Can it really be?_ Jesse thought in shock. If his eyes weren't playing a trick on him, Delbert had commissioned Captain Amelia Mouser to lead the journey to Treasure Planet. Captain Amelia was almost like a hero to Jesse, and he hoped beyond hope there'd be some form of battle just so he could see her in action.

"Well, well, well," a sinister voice announced its presence behind Jesse. "What have we here? A sssspy or a sssstowaway?"

A claw-like hand reached out and grabbed Jesse before he had a chance to run. It was then that Jesse realized that he should have ran when he had the chance. Glaring at him, was a red insect type thing and Jesse really hoped the bug wasn't hungry for eight-year-old boys.

"Mr. Scroop!" Captain Amelia called out and walked over to them. "What are you doing? Get back to work!"

"Yes Captain," Scroop slunk away, and Jesse really hoped that it would be the last time there was any interaction between the two of them. Amelia then looked down at Jesse, who had been dropped unceremoniously by Scroop.

"I don't take stowaways lightly," Amelia said with a frown. "What is your name, boy?"

"Jesse Hawkins," Jesse said before he had a chance to think of a false one. He knew his mother was probably worried sick by now and had phoned every police chief in the planet. Luckily, with the last name of Hawkins, Jesse probably wasn't on their priority list. "Dr. Delbert sent me along ahead of him. They missed the direct ferry ma'am."

The stern look on the captain's face seemed to lessen a tad, but it was still there and it was still giving Jesse fear of spending the entire journey in the brig—or worse, being sent home before it began.

"Well Mr. Hawkins," Amelia said after thinking for a moment, "jobs for little boys are rare on ships such as these and after that altercation with Mr. Scroop just now, I wouldn't want more interactions to come to blows."

_This is it,_ Jesse thought glumly. _I'm going home before the fun even starts. Stupid Jim, always getting the fun. Skipping school, riding solar surfers—_

"That's why you'll be assisting Mr. Arrow," Amelia said, looking at Jesse sternly. "A tight ship needs plenty of eyes on it to make sure none of the crew take to brawling."

"Yes ma'am!" Jesse said, a huge grin on his face when he realized that he wasn't being sent away. That's all he wanted. To prove that he could just as much as his brother, despite the seven-year age difference. "What do you need done first?"

"Help Mr. Arrow raise the sails," Amelia told hm. "The more work that gets done now, the less that has to be done in three days."

Jesse nodded and ran to where Mr. Arrow was standing with the rope of the sails gripped firmly in his rock-like hands. Jesse grabbed the remaining bit and pulled with all his might.

"Thank you lad," Mr. Arrow said with a smile. "Well, it seems that the Captain has put you under my care."

"Yes sir," Jesse nodded, eager to do more to help. "What else needs to be done sir?"

Mr. Arrow chuckled. "Not much now, lad. But just you wait. I bet something'll pop up in the time before we set sail. How about you go get something to eat from the galley?"

Jesse's stomach let out a noise in agreement as Mr. Arrow made his suggestion. Chuckling, Jesse ran to the galley and grabbed a purp out of a barrel.

"Now lad," the cook shook his head upon noticing Jesse, who had an awestruck look on his face due to the fact that the cook was a cyborg. "Don't you know it's bad luck to sneak a purp before askin'?"

Jesse gulped but upon seeing the smile on the cyborg cook's face, the nervousness disappeared.

"Sorry sir," Jesse grinned at him. "It's been a long journey and you were busy. Didn't want to interrupt what you were doing."

"Sweet kid," the cook said, almost to himself, but then shooed him out of the kitchen. "Dinner'll be ready before ye knows it."

Jesse nodded and ran to help the rest of the crew, not even realizing that the cook's voice was the same as the man who had asked for directions to the Legacy.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

A/N: I own Jesse Hawkins. No one else owns him, but I cannot use him for monetary gain, as Disney owns the rights to Treasure Planet.

Which, as a side note, I purchased recently so now I can write this story and be able to view which scene I want to talk about—and so I can watch it without commentary!

The next day, Jesse woke up stiff and sore but ready to help out again if needed. Though it took him a while to remember where he was exactly, as he didn't expect to wake up on a ship.

"Whoa," Jesse shook his head and got ready quickly. He did not want to be sent back because he was lazy. He went to the dining hall, where there was only one other member of the crew there.

"Ah good," Captain Amelia gave a slight nod upon noticing Jesse's presence. Jesse returned it and sat down, his head meeting the table almost as soon as he sat at the table. The last time he'd gotten up so early was when the Benbow was just starting out and his mom needed some help from both of the brothers.

"Morning Captain," Mr. Arrow's voice filled the galley, causing Jesse to pull his head off the table and rub his sleep filled eyes.

"Good morning Mr. Arrow," Amelia nodded to her first mate. The two of them had a friendly conversation while Jesse ate what looked to be porridge. He tried not to stare, but Jesse couldn't help being awed by the captain. He had read so many books about her, it was uncanny.

"Yes Mr. Hawkins?" Amelia had finally noticed the avid staring by the eight-year-old and Jesse flushed.

"Pardon my asking ma'am," Jesse said, "but is it true you blasted thirteen protean ships into the Lagoon Nebula all by yourself?"

"No of course not," Amelia scoffed. "It was fifteen, but Mr. Arrow would know better than I."

"I believe it was sixteen captain," Arrow corrected. "They were coming after us like rats on garbage they were," he turned to Jesse and began to tell him the story of the battle. Amelia had to attend to captain business, so by the time the story was over, she was gone. But Jesse had listened in rapt attention to every detail.

"Wow!" he gasped as it finished up.

"Wow indeed, and now we best be getting to work," Arrow said. They looked around at the mess the crew had left behind and Jesse made a face.

"I doubt there'd be much work above ship," Mr. Arrow said after a few minutes. "How about you help Mr. Silver out? He's got to make sure all the crew gets fed in time. Who knows what they might do otherwise?"

Jesse giggled but nodded and started collecting the dishes, like he would do at the inn when it was a weekend and Jim was probably doing his community service. Bringing them in, he put them where Mr. Silver would see it.

"Mr. Silver?" he called out to the empty kitchen.

"Right here lad," the cyborg chuckled as he stepped out of the pantry. "Just makin' sure we've got what we need for our trip."

"Cool," Jesse grinned and ran off to get the rest of the dishes. After that, he put them on the floor and began to wash.

"Aw, you don't got to do that lad," Silver said. "I'd have done it."

"It's fine," Jesse said with a half-grin that his mom insisted came from his dad. "I do this at home all the time."

"Do you now?"

"Yep," Jesse nodded. "Mom says I do it better than my brother Jim most of the time. Except when she's made chocolate cake with baked purps. Then Jim clears the entire tray."

Both child and machine burst out laughing at that. Then, Silver settled down but chuckled quietly a few times.

"So what about your pap?" Silver asked. "You talk about your brother and your mam."

"Oh," Jesse's smile turned slightly uncomfortable at the prospect of talking about his father. "He's…away. He's been that way for four years."

Before anyone could say anything, Mr. Arrow called for Jesse from the main deck. Apparently, there was some mopping to do.

"Joy," Jesse rolled his eyes but ran out of there. "See you later Silver!"

"Run along lad," Silver's voice followed after him. Jesse looked for the rock-man and found him a few minutes later, holding a bucket and mop.

"Think you can handle that?" Mr. Arrow asked after giving Jesse to mop around the captain's quarters.

"Aye sir!" Jesse nodded and got straight to work. The mop was heavy and the bucket overturned at times, but all in all Jesse found himself having a fun time. Of course, there was the awkward incident where the captain had almost slipped on a wet section of the deck Jesse had just finished swabbing in front of the door to her stateroom.

"Mr. Hawkins," Amelia said, "perhaps a bit more caution to where you are mopping next time?"

"Yes captain," Jesse nodded and ran to where Mr. Arrow was directing him to mop next. By day's end, Jesse had mopped the entire deck twice (some member of the crew had stepped in some sort of dung while on land) and cleaned more plates than he cared to.

"Perhaps it's time for bed," Mr. Arrow said upon seeing the young boy try to hide a yawn behind his hand. "Off with you now. There'll be more work waiting tomorrow."

Jesse made a face but even he couldn't deny his tired body the rest it needed any longer. It was almost as if someone had decided to make this trip the most boring one in the history of trips. When was the adventure going to start?

"Probably when Jim gets here," he muttered as he searched for his pillow. The stupid thing kept hiding from him every day and every night he had to look for it again. Finding it under his hammock, Jesse kicked off his shoes and grabbed his bear. Not even waiting to find the covers, Jesse fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.

000

The next day, Jesse awoke to his body covered with the blanket that was standard for the crew's quarters.

"Who'd…" he muttered as he pulled his shoes back on. Deciding he'd deal with it later, Jesse ran above deck to find Mr. Arrow talking to a man in an odd suit and a smaller looking man. Unfortunately, the captain's arrival distracted him.

"Dr. Doppler, I presume?" Amelia asked loudly and Jesse gasped. How had they managed to get a ride that was only two days instead of three? Wait….

"This would be three days," he gasped and backed down the stairs to go help Silver out. The galley was a mess—again.

"Lousy stinking crewmembers," Jesse grumbled, piling the dishes as high as they could go without impairing his vision so he wouldn't break a plate. Silver was hard at work cooking something so Jesse just piled the dishes off to the side without talking to him. It was on his second run that it happened. He heard the voices.

"It's my map and she's got me busing tables!" Jim griped and ran straight into Jesse. "Oh sorry man…"

Jim stared in shock upon the image of his younger brother. Jesse flushed and looked at Mr. Arrow instead of at his brother. No way did he want a lecture right now.

"Jesse…._what_ are you doing here?" Jim and Delbert asked at the exact same time.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

A/N: Jesse is mine. I do not own anything from Treasure Planet, as Disney owns that.

Jesse was saved from answering his brother and the dog-man by the arrival of Silver.

"Why Mr. Arrow sir! Bringin' such distinguished guests into my humble galley. Had I known, I'd 'ave tucked in me shirt." The cyborg stated, and actually tucked in the apron he had on into his pants.

Jesse slipped away and ran up to the deck. There, he began helping the rest of the crew load different parcels onto the ship. He did that, until he saw Jim arrive on deck. That was when he made to hide, as to avoid any confrontation with his brother. He didn't expect his brother to actually grab his arm.

"Ouch!" Jesse winced, as Jim had inadvertently grabbed on to the bruised area of his left arm in his eagerness to speak to his sibling.

"What are you doing here Jesse?" Jim asked again, letting go of his brother's arm upon hearing the exclamation. "Mom's worried _sick_ about you."

"I just wanted to see what was all the fuss was about," Jesse shrugged, unconsciously mirroring Jim as he did so. "It's not like anything could happen."

Jim looked at his little brother in disbelief. He honestly didn't believe anything could happen? "Mom told you not to come, Jesse."

"Why are you here then?" Jesse shot back, narrowing his eyes a little at his big brother. "If it's too dangerous for me, then it is for you too."

Jim didn't have a retort for that and so stormed off to watch the launch. Jesse did the same, only from the other end of the ship. The launch was amazing, something Jesse would have never thought he'd be able to experience in his lifetime. He even managed to do a flip before the artificial gravity was engaged.

"Ooh! That's going to hurt," he muttered as he heard Delbert crash back to earth. Honestly, why was the scientist wearing that horrible suit?

"Jesse!" he heard Mr. Arrow calling after a while and Jesse ran over to him. Though it took him a while to realize that it was Mr. Arrow calling him, as the man had never called Jesse by his first name before. Jesse's excited look, the look he always wore upon helping the crew out, faded a bit after seeing that Arrow was holding yet another mop and bucket.

"Why does this deck get so dirty all the time?" he muttered, though the fact that Jim was doing the exact same thing made it a little bit better. Jim, though, could be seen looking around—an act Jesse had learned not to do on his first day there. Some of the crew weren't the friendliest of beings.

"Cabin boysss sssshould learn to mind their own busssinesss," Jesse heard the familiar hiss and turned around in fear. He hated hearing that voice ever since that first encounter with the spider thing. There, he saw Scroop climb down the rigging and head towards Jim.

"Why, you got something to hide bright eyes?" Jim asked and Jesse groaned. Upon seeing the bug thing pick up his brother, Jesse knew there were two things he could do. He could try to distract Scoop or he could go get Mr. Arrow. He chose the latter, as Scroop was a big bug thing while he, Jesse, was just a tiny eight-year-old boy.

"Mr. Arrow!" he ran up to the rock man, who was overseeing a group of the crew take arms into storage.

"What is it Jesse?" Mr. Arrow asked, a little concerned for the young boy due to the slight fear that was evident in Jesse's eyes.

"Mr. Scroop's got Jim cornered by a mast sir," Jesse said. "It looks to be a fight."

Mr. Arrow went straight to the scene, without waiting for Jesse to show him the way causing the younger Hawkins to run to keep up with the first mate. When Jesse got back to the scene, Mr. Silver was there, helping Jim out.

"What's all this then?" Mr. Arrow walked down the stairs and Jesse saw from where he was hiding that the entire crew had lined up upon Mr. Arrow's arrival. "You know the rules. There'll be no brawling on this ship. Any repeat offenders will spend the remainder of the voyage in the brig."

He turned to the bug thing and said sternly, "Am I clear, Mr. Scroop?"

"Transparently," Scroop hissed after a few minutes of tense glaring. After that, everyone dispersed except for Silver and Jim. Mr. Arrow went back to where Jesse had found him, though he did stop for a minute.

"Thank you lad," he told Jesse. "The captain needs all the eyes she can get if this is to be a calm voyage."

"You're welcome," Jesse smiled; thankful the rock man wasn't mad at him for interrupting what he had been doing.

"Now, get back to mopping," Mr. Arrow said with a smile and Jesse made a slight face behind his back. Jim and Jesse mopped from that time all the way to dinner, stopped for a bit to get something to eat, and then Jim went back up to mop some more. Jesse snuck up to the deck to try to see if Jim was all right and that Scroop didn't harm him, but stopped when he heard Silver talking.

"Didn't your pap ever teach you to pick yer fights a bit more carefully?" Silver asked, and Jesse actually held his breath. Jim never talked about their father, except when Jesse would ask when Dad was coming back. There was silence where Jesse had expected Jim's voice to be.

"Yer father not the teaching sort?"

"No. He's more the running away and never coming back sort," Jim told the cyborg, and Jesse froze where he stood. No, Jim had to be lying.

_But why else would Jim hate talking about Dad? _ A nasty little voice in his brain asked. _If Dad was just on a 'business trip', surely Jim would be talking about him. Mom wouldn't cry whenever he's mentioned. And the other kids…._

The other kids wouldn't pick on him if his dad was on a business trip. Jesse gasped audibly and ran off, not realizing that the gasp had alerted Jim to the fact that his brother had heard everything.

"Jesse!" Jim called after his brother and tried to run after him, but it was no use. When Jesse wanted to hide, only people he wanted to be found by could find him. Sighing, Jim walked over to Silver.

"What's wrong with the lad?" Silver asked, having seen the whole thing.

"He heard me talk about our father," Jim sighed and looked over the side. "Mom and I have been telling him that our dad's been on a business trip for four years, and now he's finally found out."

Silver looked thoughtful at that. "Well, I don't know about you Jimbo, but I'd recon that Jesse'd like to know the truth. Go and find him, before I put you to work."

Ignoring that comment, Jim tried to find his brother. He checked everywhere, but the most logical places were void of any eight-year-old little brothers. Then it hit Jim like a solar flare. The crow's nest! It'd be the last place anyone would look for Jesse.

"Jes?" Jim called as he hopped over the crow's nest and stopped when he saw his little brother curled up into a ball, crying with his bear clutched in his hands. Obviously, Jesse had stopped by the crew's quarters before taking up his spot in the crow's nest due to the fact that the bear was not something Jesse carried around everywhere he went. "Jes, you okay?"

"Go away!" Jesse shouted at Jim, his grey eyes clouded with tears and distrust. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Look," Jim sighed to try to calm himself down before he ended up yelling at his little brother, but then a sudden thought hit him and he looked at Jesse. "Why were you eavesdropping?"

Jesse glared right on back at Jim, though the look was diminished by the tear tracks streaming down his face. "I heard Silver mention Dad. Sorry for being curious."

"I never eavesdrop in your conversations with mom," Jim shot back. "Besides, don't you know eavesdroppers always learn information they didn't want to know?"

"Oh, so if you knew I was there, you'd have made something up?" Jesse asked and the truth was so bitter, Jim actually backed up. "Isn't that great? I can't even count on my own _brother_ to be honest with me?"

"If you didn't sneak on here, you'd be fine," Jim told him, waving his hands in the air. "You know what? Fine. I came here to explain, but apparently you don't want to hear it."

"No, I don't," Jesse glared at Jim and sat back down. Jim grabbed the rope and slid down it, sighing when his feet touched the ground. He knew his brother, and knew that sooner or later Jesse would come down from the crow's nest. He was right, but Jim didn't want to talk with Jesse right then. He was too annoyed.

Jesse knew that Jim was watching him. It's what he did. But the young boy really wished for once, his brother would leave him alone. Dragging the bear on the ship's deck, Jesse walked glumly into the crew's quarters and climbed into his hammock. That night, he didn't curl up with his bear nor did he allow it into his bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

A/N: I only own Jesse Hawkins. The rest is owned by Disney.

Jesse had a hard time falling asleep and awoke the next day to the noise of Silver bossing his brother around below deck. Rubbing the crick out of his neck, Jesse almost went to go help Jim out before he remembered what happened the previous night.

"He lied to me," Jesse whispered to himself and then dove back under the covers. He was never coming out; not until Jim apologized for lying to him. He must have been there a good long while as it was around noon when Mr. Arrow came into the crew's cabin looking for him.

"Mr. Hawkins?" Mr. Arrow knocked on the door and poked his head in. "Now I know you worked hard yesterday lad, but you do need to pull your weight. Can't do that if you don't eat."

Jesse didn't reply, instead he just burrowed further under his blankets-not realizing that a frown had formed on Mr. Arrow's face. While the trip had started off strange—it wasn't every day that a young boy stowed away on the Captain's ship after all—the younger Hawkins had proven he could handle any task.

"Mr. Hawkins?" Mr. Arrow walked into the room without knocking. "You'll need to get out of bed if you want to work."

There was silence before Jesse unburied himself and presented himself to the first mate. He knew his eyes would be red and his hair a mess, but he didn't really care.

"My word lad! What happened?"

"Jim and I got into an argument last night," Jesse shrugged, cuffing his sleeves so that he'd be able to use his hands. He didn't know that he was acting like his brother, but he didn't particularly care either way. "No big deal."

Mr. Arrow frowned once more but decided that if Jesse wasn't going to tell then he wasn't going to pry. Giving the young boy some privacy, Mr. Arrow couldn't help the smirk that formed when Jesse groaned upon seeing the mop and bucket when the young boy came on deck.

"It could be worse," Mr. Arrow said with the smirk still on his face. "You could be with Silver today. He's making our cabin boy clean the underside of the ship."

Jesse peered down and giggled upon seeing Jim try to peel one barnacle off of the underside of the boat. Running a hand through his hair, Jesse mopped with more happiness than he had planned to start with. He realized that, despite the fact that he'd only been on board the ship for four days, he was happier than he'd ever been in his life. Well, he supposed he had been happy when his dad was around but he could barely remember the man.

"All done?" Mr. Arrow's booming voice pulled him out of his thoughts and Jesse realized that he'd mopped the entire deck. "Looks good lad. Why don't you go and get some lunch? It's the cabin boy's turn to do the dishes."

Jesse raised an eyebrow at Mr. Arrow calling Jim the cabin boy but thought nothing of it as he raced to the galley. Silver usually cooked something good for lunch, even if it was late.

"Wait," Jesse paused and turned back. "You're letting me off early! Silver and Jim are still down there with the barnacles."

Mr. Arrow chuckled. "You looked like you needed a break lad. Come on. Mr. Silver isn't the only one on this ship who knows his way around a galley kitchen. How do you think the Captain and I got to know each other so well?"

"You can cook?" Jesse asked, slightly amazed as the mental image popped up in his head. He couldn't picture the man of rock anywhere near the kitchen. Mr. Arrow chuckled at the question.

"Well it was the captain who managed to make it so I didn't almost burn the ship down every time I wanted to make something for myself," the first mate responded. "Always remember Jesse, cooking is a dangerous task and should be left to the professionals."

"Like mothers," Jesse said with a smile. "My mom's a great cook."

"Oh really?" Mr. Arrow tossed the younger boy a purp as they sat down in chairs by the counter; Jesse swinging his legs as his feet couldn't touch the floor.

"Yeah! Mom can make this cake that goes all the way to the sky!" Jesse said, his eyes lighting up as he went into a full on Hawkins story. A Hawkins story was usually full of exaggeration and mistakes, but no one needed to know except those who were there.

"That's a good tale lad," Mr. Arrow smiled at Jesse. "Come on now. Back to work."

"Mr. Arrow?" Jesse looked up to the rock man and asked.

"Yes lad?" Mr. Arrow replied as he got up.

"Isn't there anything to do other than mop the deck?" Jesse asked. "It seems that there's all there is."

Mr. Arrow thought for a minute before answering. "Don't know what to tell you Jesse. The First Mate usually has more behind the scenes stuff than actual work when it comes to sailing."

"Meaning….?"

"Boring paperwork."

"Ugh!" Jesse made a face and raced to grab the mop and bucket; not realizing the first mate was left chuckling behind him. Taking one last break to see what Jim was up to, Jesse smirked upon seeing his liar of a brother still struggling with that barnacle.

"Hello Cabin Boy."

Gulping, Jesse turned around to see Scroop leering over him like a spider would his prey.

_Well now that I think of it…_Jesse thought as he stood there shaking. He was cornered by a spider psycho and the only thing he could think of was run. That proved ineffective when Scroop grabbed Jesse by the collar of his shirt.

"Now what do you think I'm going to do to a little ssssnitch?" Scroop asked, holding Jesse up close to the spider's gleaming yellow eyes. Jesse looked down only to see the vast span of space below him.

"Sssscared?" Scroop hissed as Jesse's eyes grew wide at the thought of being killed at eight.

"Scroop!" Mr. Arrow's voice could be heard in the distance but Scroop paid him no mind and Jesse was wondering just what was going to happen to him. If Scroop was going to drop him, Jesse'd rather he do it soon. There were tingles shooting up his leg that shouldn't be there.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

A/N: I only own Jesse. I don't own anyone else from Treasure Planet. If I did, I'd be a millionaire and not writing fanfiction in the library as I wait for time to pass so I can go to class.

The longer Jesse dangled there, the more scared he became for his life. What did Scroop want with him anyway? Unless he somehow found out that he was the one who told Arrow about the fight….

_ Oh yeah, _Jesse thought with an inward chuckle. _I was. _

Just then, the sudden sound of fabric ripping brought Jesse's attention to the outside world and he knew that he probably had three seconds to…

"WHOA!" he shouted as Scroop let him go. The feeling of dropping farther than he could expect scared him more than the dangling did. However, before he could get used to the idea of dying at the young age of eight, he stopped suddenly as someone grabbed his right arm (thankfully not the arm which was still bruised) and he looked up into the grey eyes of his brother.

"Didn't think I'd let you die now did you?" Jim said with a smirk as he pulled him on to the platform he was stationed on with Silver.

"Well you never really know," Jesse muttered as he climbed on to safety but a little bit of the negative feelings he had towards Jim had vanished when he saved him.

"Come on lad," Silver said, pulling the platform up towards the deck of the ship. "We should get you back up there so Jimbo here can get back to work."

Jesse stuck his tongue out at Jim, who looked shocked that he'd still have to work. It was almost as if he expected a break for some strange reason. Though Jesse was a tad nervous of going back up there, as he didn't know where exactly Scroop or Mr. Arrow was.

"Ah there you are Jesse," Delbert said in relief as Jesse climbed over the railing. "Are you hurt?"

"Alright Doctor," Captain Amelia said strictly, "Mr. Hawkins is to be taken to the hospital wing to be checked over before you can hound him with questions. Mr. Arrow will escort him."

Mr. Arrow nodded and led Jesse away before the lad could say anything. That didn't stop him from protesting all the rest of the way there.

"Now lad," Mr. Arrow said once they arrived to the hospital wing, "you had quite a fall. We want to make sure you're ready to get back to work and to do that; we need to know that you didn't get hurt."

Jesse nodded to show that he understood, but inwardly grimaced. He hated hospitals with a passion, though he didn't really know why. His mother insisted that it was something he got from his father. Jesse froze when they rolled up the sleeve of his bruised arm.

"Well, that's enough of a reason to keep you off duty for the rest of the day," Mr. Arrow said with a frown.

"But what do I do?" Jesse asked. He wanted to help but he also wanted to stay away from Scroop and Jim. The former because he had just almost _died_ at his hand, and the latter because Jim would want to talk about said event.

"You can help me fill out paperwork," Mr. Arrow said and Jesse groaned. The two of them walked over to where the paperwork was, but to Jesse's surprise there was none. No paperwork at all. What was this trickery?

"Jesse," Mr. Arrow began, a frown prominent on his face, "how'd you get that bruise?"

"Oh, I'm clumsy," Jesse said with a smile and turned to leave, only to find the door locked. Looks like it was going to be a standoff.

0000

It was about three hours later when Jesse finally left the office of the first mate. He'd told Mr. Arrow everything, mainly because the older man thought his mom had done that to him when Jesse wouldn't talk about it, and Jesse even had the older man swear not to tell Jim or Delbert about the bullying. In a way, it was nice to have finally told someone.

"Jes!"

Jim walked up to him as he balanced on the side of the ship. Jesse rolled his eyes and walked away in the opposite direction. Just because Jim had saved his life didn't mean Jesse was in the mood to talk about why Jim had kept the most important news he had from him.

"Come on Jes," Jim hopped down and almost ran to him; grabbing the bruised arm as he did so. Jesse had to almost bite down on his tongue to keep from exclaiming something in pain. That would be a giveaway for sure, and he was healing as fast as he normally did since he got on the ship.

"Let go of me Jim," Jesse glared at his brother. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Then let me walk you to the crew's quarters," Jim countered. "After today…."

Jesse sighed but smiled at his brother. Despite all his problems, Jim tried to make sure Jesse was safe. Though that was hard to do when the robot cops caught him every time he went solar surfing in a restricted area.

"So how've you been?" Jim asked as they walked.

"Aren't you supposed to be with Silver right now?" Jesse ignored the question as he looked at the night sky. Jim chuckled.

"He's teaching me how to tie knots," Jim shook his head; his hair flying everywhere. "Mom taught us that years ago."

"Yeah, after you sent a ship flying off," Jesse smirked at his brother. "It was three years ago so don't pull the age card."

Jim gave Jesse a friendly shove on the shoulder, which ended up in Jesse chasing Jim all the way to the crew's sleeping quarters. There, the two brothers separated to get changed for bed. Jesse hopped into his hammock and was asleep before his eyes even had a chance to close. Little did he know that Jim had curled up beside him, after noticing the glace of one eight-legged crewmember.

TBC


End file.
